The Magnificent Seven Review: 5 Ups And 5 Downs

Ups:

5. It’s Not A Full-On Remake

I think the most important thing to establish about The Magnificent Seven is that it isn’t a remake. Sure, it’s trading almost entirely on the vague name recognition (with a sprinkling of Hateful Eight-invoking marketing) and follows a eclectic ensemble of seven outlaws, but that’s all rather superficial; there’s no Kurosawa derivative here.

If anything it’s more Wild Bunch, with the gang assembled to save a town from a vicious businessman, and that’s a certainly refreshing blend. There’s no pressure to bend the knee to pre-existing story tropes and instead the film has the freedom to craft its own story and characters without feeling derivative.

Sure, it’s cynical from a Hollywood standpoint, but if “remakes” can at least try and do their own thing, there’s some light in the darkness (Antoine Fuqua’s next film is likely to be a remake of another remake, Scarface, so fingers crossed he'll do something equally novel).